The European Parliament has backed new EU rules designed to strengthen farmers’ position in contracts across the food supply chain, including measures on pricing, labelling and the use of meat-related terms.
MEPs approved the legislation by 560 votes to 75, with 25 abstentions, the parliamentary press service informed on Tuesday.
Member states will be required to set up and publish online benchmarks to be used in contractual arrangements.
The Parliament said the rules are intended to ensure final food prices better reflect actual costs and have a direct impact on farmers’ incomes.
Producer organisations — groups that allow farmers to co-ordinate and negotiate collectively — will get a stronger role in market organisation and bargaining under the new regulation, the Parliament said.
It added that producer organisations will be allowed to negotiate directly with buyers, while new provisions will prevent buyers from bypassing these organisations to contact individual producers.
Labelling rules and restrictions on meat terms
The legislation also clarifies how the terms “fair” and “equitable” can be used on agricultural products, including criteria for when such labelling is allowed, according to the Parliament.
A definition of meat as “edible parts of animals” is included in the text, alongside a list of terms reserved for meat products only.
The list includes words such as “beef”, “pork”, “chicken”, “steak” and “bacon”, and the restrictions would apply to products that do not contain meat, including lab-grown or cell-based products.
New measures for the dairy sector include mandatory written contracts intended to support dairy producers’ incomes.
The provisional agreement must still be approved by the Council of the EU before the new rules can enter into force.
